Censor Board meets after 6 years, members ask who’s on film review panel

Shashi Shekhar Vempati took over as CBFC Chairperson in 2026.

At a Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) meeting after a six-year gap, members have requested a list of those who consistently headed Revising Committees in recent years to review films, The Indian Express has learnt.

The virtual meeting also discussed recent films that sparked a controversy, strategies for moving forward, and industry outreach programmes, sources have said.

Within the CBFC framework, a Revising Committee is a panel that reviews a film if the producers or the board are unhappy with the Examining Committee’s decision. An investigation by The Indian Express in September last year revealed that three board members had been heading most Revising Committees.

The 149th meeting of the CBFC, also known as the Censor Board, took place on August 29; the film certification body had not convened a board meeting for six years. This meeting was the first after Shashi Shekhar Vempati took over as CBFC Chairperson.

Under the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules 2024, the CBFC board must meet once every quarter. The 12-member board last met on August 31, 2019, and none of the members have been officially reappointed since 2017, even though their tenure was three years long. The board was last reconstituted on August 1, 2017.

According to sources, it was also discussed that the board should meet at least once quarterly, in accordance with the rules.

The Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, notified in supersession of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, also came up for discussion. A request for further clarification on the difference between age-based certification of 16 years and 18 years also came up, sources said.

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The 2024 Rules introduced age-based certification categories by subdividing the existing UA category into three age-based categories – seven years (UA 7+), thirteen years (UA 13+), and sixteen years (UA 16+), instead of twelve years.

A few other key points incorporated in the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 2024, also came up for discussion at the meeting, it is learnt.

This meeting was to catch up with the latest developments in the CBFC because there was no correspondence between the certification body and the board members in the last six years, an official told The Indian Express. The official added that the lack of consensus on certifying certain films had antagonised the film industry to a large extent.

The CBFC board is also supposed to deliberate on difficult decisions related to its functioning. It is learnt that the board was briefed on an outreach with industry stakeholders across regions. The board Members also shared feedback on issues faced by various industry stakeholders, deliberated on related policy issues and advised the CBFC management to take them up with the government.

Amrita Nayak Dutta writes on defence and national security as part of the national bureau of The Indian Express. In the past, Amrita has extensively reported on the media industry and broadcasting matters, urban affairs, bureaucracy and government policies. In the last 14 years of her career, she has worked in newspapers as well as in the online media space and is well versed with the functioning of both newsrooms. Amrita has worked in the northeast, Mumbai and Delhi. She has travelled extensively across the country, including in far-flung border areas, to bring detailed reports from the ground and has written investigative reports on media and defence. She has been working for The Indian Express since January 2023. ... Read More

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